William dennlson



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Letters Patent No. 97,173, dated November ll, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT: IN MACHINES FOR MAKING CHAINS.

-Opg- The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part 0f the same MOH- 1'0 all whom 'it may concern Bo it known that I, WILLIAM-DENMSQN, of Oambridge, in the county of Middlesex, and Sta-te of Massa`- `chusetts, have invented a new and useiiil Improvement in Machines ibihailiilig Chain; and I do hereby declare the following to he a full, clear, and exact dcscription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of rete-renee marked thereon, making'part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a front elevation ci' the machine, showing the position of ther-.bain when iu course ot' construction. Y y

Figure 2 is a. side elevation of' the same Figure 3 is a. sectional plan through v1 5 .1l .of tig. 4./

Figure 4 is a vertical section'throughA .L of iig. 3.

Y The same letters, in the different iigurcs of the drawings, indicate thefsame parts.

i The object of my invimtion is toananufhcture betterand stronger chain, at less cost than it is now made. Bydoing so, it lwould introduce its use for nany purposes, where its appropriate use is now much debarred on account of its high cost. I propose to make chain by machinery, in such a. way as to finish the links et once, leavingthexn smooth and perfect, no marks-if the hannner upon them.

This machine is designed for makingchain withor without bridges, by forcing the links, when heated to a v.\'eldi11g-heat, into dies, the cavity in which to be made lto the form ot' lthe link required. These dies,

"C C, are to be` secured in the top of a vcast block, l), which we will call an anvil-block.

A part ot' this hlock is made to separate at the division-line het-Ween these dies C (l, and to he supported and turn on n shaft at its lower end, as seen at Il, iig.

v 4, which we will call a. viso.

This vise E is made to open and close, by means of a smell stezun-cylinden, F, being cmmected to the piston-rod ot' the cylinderl by the rods or hars G. rl.he dotted red lines show their position when the vise is open.

`The vise E, when closed, is held in position through the hars G, by a cross-plate, in which the crosshend of the piston-rod slides. l'tis supported on colunnis at the bottom, and secured b v barsor rods to the anvil-block at the top.

'lhe bridges" u are made in the usual way, and are. placed in the tubeH, from which they are carried and secured wit-hin the dies (l, by means ofthe follower-1,- which receives its motion from `the working ot' the vise 1'), being connected by the rod J', segment-gear K, rod L, end angle-lever M. 1y opening. the vise,

these several parts will assume the position shown by the dotted red lines,` tig. 4, when a. bridge will fall in advance ot' the follower l, from the VtubeI ll, and (by shutting the vise 15) will be carried-lbrward through the iinssage in which the iolhlnverl passes, and bc iilrnly secured within the dies-O et b. Iig 4.

As the chain is marde, it passes through`an opening in the'cylindor N, formed to suit the chain, by which the chain is fed along and turned over one-quarter turn, so as to place the chain in proper position to receive-the next link. It is first turned one way, then the other, to prevent the chain from being twisted.

The cylinder N is secured in posit-ion by the cylinder or box 0, (in which it turns,) which is secured to the anvil-block 1).

The cylinderN is turned hv the shaft I, shown by the dotted lines, iig. b.

'Upon the inner end of this shaft is a haltpinion wheel, Q, 4, working in tlnl segment-gear K.

0n the outer end ot' this shaft is a cra-nk, It.

From this crank is a rod, S, connecting it tothesegment-gear '17 working inthe segment-gear U, which is secured fast to the cylinder N by au arm working through a. slot in the'under side ot' the cylinder O at c, iig. l.

Upon the shaft 1", alongside oi' the pinion -wheel Q, is secured a ratchet-wheel or clutch, Y, Sand 4.

lts'ca-tch orpawl, l?, is secured to the pinion-wheel Q, which is to turn loose upon its shaft.

N ow, hy opening, the vise E will, h v means ot' the connections J and K, turn-the pinion-wheel Q one-half round, when the pawl d will catch in the opposite side of' the ratchet Y at c, the ratchet-wheel 'V not having turned. Now, by shutting the vise ll, the motion oi' the pinion-wheel Q will be reversed, and will turn the ratchet, its sha-ft, and crank, one-halt' round, which will, through the rod S, turn the segment-gears Tand U to the opposite side, thus turning the. cylinder N, with 4the chain, one-quarter over. lt will he seen that the chain turned only when the vise is being shut;

but it can be turned when being opened, it' found to he preferable, by simply reversing the ratchet-wheel V upon its shaft.

vThe chain is fed or moved along, through the cylinder N, by a shaft, lV, which turns in boxes cast or vsecured to the cylinder' N, and turns with it.

Upon` one end of this shaft is secured a pinionwheel, X, which works in gear-teeth east on the c vlinde.'

Lpon the other end of this shaft is secured a bevelpinion wheel, Y, working in the inner segment of the gear Zi which has three. segments ot' a gear cast together, and"turns on a pin `or journal, cast on the cylindfr'.

The ivo outer segments ofl this gear' are opposite cach other,and workin the segment-gearsff, which are supported, at each side ot" the c`\ linderl\,.by a. shat't turning in boxes y (1, which are cast or sccprcd to the under side or' the c vlinder N, and therefore turn with it.

ln t-he centre of' this shaft is secured a. chain-wheel, la, which passes through an opening or slot formed in the cylinder This chain-wheel h has its periphery se formed as to pass between the links of the chain, so as, when it turns, the chain will be passed along.

The segment-gears ff turn on their shaft in passing back, but are turned with it, when moving forward, by the pawls i t', secured to the segment-gears ff', and ratchetsjj, which are secured to the shaft.

Now, as the,q cylinder N be turned, the gear-teeth upon the cylinder O being fixed stationary, the pinion X, shaft "W, bevel-pinion Y, segmentgear Z, and segment-gearyf, will turn and pass the chain along by the ratchet and pawl j and i' while the segmentgear f will be turned back. But when the cylinder N be turned back, the motion of these several parts will be reversed, when the segment-gear f will carry the chain forward, and the segmentrear]v back, and so on, alternately.

rl`he links are forced into the dies C by a press or hammer, worked by steam or any other power. A steam-cylinder. 7.', is supported above the anvil-block D and centre ot' the dies C, by columns l l, which are strongly secured to the anvil-block. This cylinder k, with its steam-chest and all its movable parts, is kconstructed similar to the steam-hammers now in use, and is to be used both as a press and hammer.

Upon the lower end of the piston-rod, or hammert'acc, is secured a die, m, formed to t over the link to be welded, and the link through which the link is to be welded.

',Lhc links are to be prepared for the machine by being bent to the form shown at n, iig. l, which can be done by machines for that purpose now in use.

rlfhe machine is operated as follows:

By the handle p of the valve-rod, steam is admitted to the cylinder F, which closes the 'vise E.

kt the same time, a bridge, a., is carried to and secured within the dies C, and by the hand-lever q, steam is admitted to the cyliiderk, which raises the press or hammer with the die nl. The position of these parts will then be as shown bythe drawings. Alink, heated to a welding-heat, will now be placed over the opening inthe dies C, in the position shown ata. Then, hy the liand-lever q, steam isadniitted to the cylinder 1.', and its pressure will lforce the lilik into the dies around the lbridge, but it not with suiiicient force as to make a perfect weld, it can be given one or .more blows with the die on, as a hammer.

The vise E will now be opened, by admitting steam to the cylinderF by the handle p, which operation will carry the follower I back and receive another bridge. At the same time thepinion-wheel Q, with its pawl d, will be turned to the opposite side of the ratchet l V, where it will catch on heilig turned back. Now, by shutting the vise E, a bridge will be carried within the dies. At the 4same time, the chain will be turned by the cylinder N, and carried forward b y the wheel 7:-, which will place the chain upon the anvil-block, in a proper position to receive the next link, which will be forced into the dies, as before. v

The first three -or four links ot a chain will be removed from the dies and placed in position on the anvil-block by hand, until thclength is suficient to reach the chain-whee1 h.

Then chain is to be made without being bridged, the rods L will be disconnected, and the dies G made without an opening to receive them. The operation in making such chain will then be the same as above described.

Having thus fully described thy-invention,

What I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is v 1. The method herein described, of welding and forming chain-links, that is to say,by forcingthem into dies C C by means of die an, as herein described.

2. The combination of dies C C, with bridge-slot within, substantially as set forth.

lllhe segment-gear K, rods L, angle-lever M, follower I, and tube H, all arranged as shown, in combination with'dies C C, as and for the purposes set forth.

4 .l'lhe combination of the cross-slattcd cylinder N, with mechanism, substantially as set fort-h, for rotating it, and moving the chain intermittently, as the same is formed. Y

5. The combination ot the vise E, connecting-rod J, segment-gear l, pinion Q, ratchet V, pawl d, shaft 1, cra-nk 1t, rod S, segment-gear T, with segment-gear U, attached'to the cylinder N, in the manner and for the purpose set forth. n n n (i. 'The wheel h, gears f f Z Y X, cylinder O, ratchetsjj, pawls i i', incombination with the cylinder N, constructed in the manner and for the purpose set forth. n

7. The vise E, die's GG on, tube H, follower I, cylinder N, and wheel ncombined in the mannerand for the purpose substantially as described. n

Intestimony whereof, I lnve signed kmy name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. n

- WILLIAM DENNISON.

- Witnesses: t n H. B. DENNISON,

.1. W. HAMMOND. 

